Tonda Eckert names a back four tomorrow afternoon and one of the men in it might have already played his last game for the club. Ten days out from the deadline, that is where Southampton are.
Arsenal wanted somebody who could cover right-back and centre-back, and William Saliba's back injury removed any argument for waiting.
Their £30m was knocked back earlier in the summer before the two clubs settled around £51m for Ezri Konsa, a fee big enough to turn a club perfectly content with its squad on Monday into a club out shopping by Wednesday.
Villa had held out for £60m. Sky Sports reported they settled, and inside forty-eight hours Graeme Bailey had them closing on a Southampton defender.
Villa are not shopping for fun
Konsa played no part in Villa's pre-season, so nobody at Villa Park needed Arsenal's money to tell them a centre-back was required. They needed the cash to go and buy one. Arsenal have handed it over.
Sky Sports also have Villa looking at Chelsea's Tosin Adarabioyo.
Villa are not fixated on Harwood-Bellis. They are fixated on the position, which means they can walk away whenever negotiations get tedious.
David Ornstein had the opening offer at £18m plus add-ons and Southampton did not flinch. Jack Rosser then reported a minimum of £25m up front.
Bailey's Friday line has a package reaching £25m once the add-ons are folded in. A package is not cash. Southampton held their nerve all summer over Shea Charles and got paid for it, so the difference will not be lost on anyone in the boardroom.
The bit that should worry Saints fans
Benfica were the only buyer - initially. Twenty million euros came in, Southampton knocked it back, Harwood-Bellis reportedly asked to go, and then Benfica went off and agreed terms for Alessandro Circati instead. Saints Marching noted that Southampton caught a break when that Portuguese interest cooled.
Try looking at it from the other side, though.
One bidder means one price.
Two years left on a contract and no release clause is proper leverage. It only pays if somebody else turns up before the 1st September, and nobody has. A player who has already told his employers he wants out rarely mellows as a window narrows, and Eckert has to pick him tomorrow regardless.
Say the £25m up front never lands. Saints keep a vice-captain with his bags half packed, in a season that started bottom of the table on minus four points, and ask him to defend like the player Saints Marching reckon they cannot afford to lose. Would you fancy your chances of getting eight good months out of that?
The short version: Arsenal's cash gave Villa the means, Chelsea's Adarabioyo gives them an escape route, and Southampton are running out of clubs to play off against each other.
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